Addition and Substitution Inventions By, Lavanya Suresh Associate - Patents & Designs Altacit Global
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Addition and Substitution Inventions
By, Lavanya SureshAssociate - Patents & DesignsAltacit Global
What does this cartoon have to do with patent law or innovation?
Pioneering inventions
Light bulb?
Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans
Vs
Thomas Alva Edison
Edison’s Improvements
● a lower current electricity
● a small carbonized filament, and
● an improved vacuum inside the globe
Patent Law
● The invention is new (i.e., novel),
● Non-obvious (i.e., not trivial or common sense), and
● Capable of Industrial Application
Improvement Patents
● An improvement made to an existing patented device.
● Improvements have to be new and nonobvious.
● The new improved product must be exceptionally better than the original.
Types of Improvement Patents
Addition inventions - requires that new components be added to the existing patented device.
Substitution inventions - can be issued to devices that have had major component or material changes which result in a better product.
Examples
Addition Inventions Substitution Inventions
Relationship Between Basic and Improvement Patents
● Whether the improvement patent can be practiced without infringing the basic patent?
● Whether the differences between the improvement and the disclosure of the basic patent are obvious at the time the invention was made.
● In considering the patentability of an improvement over a prior patent, compare the complete disclosure of the prior patent to determine what it would teach one skilled in the art and then compare that teaching with the improved technology.
● In evaluating infringement, focus on the claims of the prior patent and compare them with the improvements.
Approaches
Patentability
?
Infringement
Conclusion
● The analysis between a basic patent and an improvement patent, therefore, involves an initial inquiry as to whether the issue is one of patentability over the basic patent or infringement of the basic patent.
● The factual determinations and legal evaluations are different depending upon which type of evaluation is being made.
Conclusion
● In evaluating patentability in comparing a basic patent with an improvement patent, not only the technology involved but also the identity of the inventors can be important.
● If there is common ownership or if a license has been granted by the owner of the basic patent to the owner of the improvement, infringement would not be a problem.
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